The spatial-temporal variations in optical properties of atmosphere aerosols over China and its application in remote sensing

The atmospheric and climate response to the aerosol forcing are assessed by climate models regionally and globally under the past, present and future conditions. However, large uncertainties exist because of incomplete knowledge concerning the distribution and the physical and chemical properties of aerosols as well as aerosol-cloud interactions. Reduction in these uncertainties requires long-term monitoring of detailed properties of different aerosol types. China is one of the heavily polluted areas with high concentration of aerosols in the world. The complex source, composition of China aerosol led to the worse accuracy of aerosol radiative forcing assessment in the world, which urgently calls for improvements on the understanding of China regional aerosol properties. The spatial-temporal properties of aerosol types over China are studied using the radiance measurements and inversions data at 4 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations. Five aerosol classes were identified including a coarse-size dominated aerosol type (presumably dust) and four fine-sized dominated aerosol types ranging from non-absorbing to highly absorbing fine aerosols. The mean optical properties of different aerosol types in China and their seasonal variations were also investigated. Based on the cluster analysis, the improved ground-based aerosol model is applied to the MODIS dark target inversion algorithm. Validation with MODIS official product and CE318 is also included.